I have a rule in life (well at least when it comes to writing on the internet) and that is, never make any guesses, guarantees, musings, thoughts, or predictions without seeing what happens first. So here we are a week away from the All-Star break, and I think I’ve gotten a good grasp on the MLB season so far. Good enough in fact that I’m going to give you nine things (because I couldn’t think of ten) to look for in the second half of the baseball season:
9. The All-Star game – I think the game is a snooze, the voting is crap, and the festivities aren’t as exciting as they were. Of course that doesn’t stop this from being the single most important baseball game between March and the end of September. Thanks to Bud “Boy I’m glad Gary Bettman has a job so I’m not the worst commissioner in sports” Selig, the winner of the All-Star game will have home field advantage for the World Series. (This is another Chris theory: If an idiot makes a mistake once, his attempt to correct said mistake will turn out to be an even larger mistake. See Selig and the 2002 All Star game, aka the one that ended in a tie). Never mind if the White Sox have the best record in baseball, if some stupid Mariners reliever gives up a couple home runs in the eighth inning and the NL wins, the Sox will be playing three games at home instead of four come October.
Go ahead try and convince me that this game matters. If it matters, how come players routinely skip the game to rest or spend time with their families? You never saw this happen back in the 70’s – those All-Star lineups were loaded and players actually played nine full innings, instead of this “let’s try to get as many people into the game as possible crap”. If the game mattered, wouldn’t the starting pitchers stay in there longer than three innings? If the All-Star game mattered, why aren’t the rosters for each league chosen by only the players and the managers in said league? Wouldn’t they know more than the fans which players are going to have the best chance of winning?
Yeah, it’s nice that the fans have a vote, but what’s the point of it? All we do is select either our favorite players or the players that we see the most on TV. So we have a loaded roster full of players that have a nice name or a good endorsement instead of the players that deserve to be on there. But then there’s this stupid rule about how every team has to have a representative and stuff. Well I can tell you that NOBODY voted for any Royals to be on the team, yet every year, despite our best efforts there is someone taking up space on the AL bench sporting the Kansas City blue.
In conclusion, the game could determine the World Series champion, yet there is a member from the Royals participating in it. You figure it out.
8. The trade deadline – The trade deadline in baseball is a bigger deal than in every other sport put together, and I have no idea why. I think it has to do in large part with the fact that there is NOTHING else going on in July, and so it’s really all ESPN has to talk about. Still, it is more exciting than the other sports, because so many players (especially big names) get moved, are speculated to get moved, get stuck with a team but want to move or none of the above.
I’ve always thought of the MLB trading deadline as an equivalent to the NBA or NFL Draft. The major problem with the MLB draft is that it’s way too long, there are too many rounds, and we don’t know the players that teams are taking. Then there’s the whole thing about players not signing and going back to school even though they’ve been drafted and ugh… it’s just really confusing. But the trading deadline is much cooler. Major league players get moved around, not guys that could contribute in three years, and it’s usually all the contenders making the moves toward the better players, unlike in the NBA and NFL Draft where the best talent goes to the worst clubs. The games in October are decided by the moves made in July, and this year should be no different.
7. The Braves run coming to an end – They’ve won the division every year since I’ve been born, or at least it sure seems that way. While it doesn’t mean that much when people just say, “well they’ve only won one World Series in that span”, it’s a great sign of respect when people pick you for no other reason than ‘they’re picking you until you lose’. Unfortunately, it appears that the streak is finally coming to an end. Right now, they’re 14 games out and don’t have the hitting or the pitching (for once) to battle their way back. Still, 14 in a row in an unbelievable accomplishment, and the fans in Atlanta should give their team a standing ovation at the end of the season… that is, if anyone went to the games.
6. Enter Sandman – For years, the famous Metallica song has become synonymous with the greatest closer in the history of the game, Mariano Rivera. For the past eight years, as soon as you heard that opening rift, you knew the game was over. If I walked into a record store and heard that song playing, I was mentally prepared to strike out within the next four minutes.
Due to Rivera’s enormous success, the song has taken its place at various sporting arenas because people equate that song with “game over”. Example, Virginia Tech plays it before every home game (although they try to pawn it off like it’s a huge tradition). But it would be almost sacrilegious to play that song at any other baseball stadium for any other player. And it would be pure blasphemy if that player were to play in New York. But it has happened.
Billy Wagner, the new closer for the New York Mets has apparently decided that its ok if he trots out of the bullpen to “Enter Sandman” too. And the uproar in New York is so loud it makes a stampede of elephants sound like a sleeping baby. To top things off, the Mets are actually good this year, so Yankee fans can’t play the “they’re just a bunch of cross town wannabe’s this year” card, and shrug them off like they always do.
Personally I can’t wait to see how this plays out. The worst thing that could happen is the New York media rip Wagner, blaming the Mets inevitable collapse on him. The best-case scenario would probably involve Rivera hitting Wagner with a chair out in the Mets bullpen leading to Vince McMahon announcing a steel-cage match at SummerSlam with the winner getting permanent New York song rights. Either way, it’s win win.
5. George Steinbrenner – Ever since the Yankees blew the ’04 ALCS against the Red Sox to complete the greatest postseason choke ever, the Boss has been very quiet… almost too quiet. It’s the “calm before the storm” theory at work this season. He hasn’t said anything stupid or fired Billy Martin in almost 18 months. How much longer can this last? I expect nothing short of the Boss declaring war on Cuba if the Yankees don’t win it all this year.
4.Jim Palmer – Yes, he is probably the worst color commentator in baseball, but he’s a blast to listen to. The guy is a walking contradiction. Trust me, I used to work for the Orioles and for months I avoided turning the volume up on any of the TV’s because I couldn’t take his rambling. But then one night (when the situation was out of my control), I was forced to listen to his game analysis and it was just stunning. Here were some of my favorites from that night:
“Well that’s not going to change until he changes it.” “George Sisler had a pretty good year that year in 1920.” (The year that Sisler set the major league record for most hits in a season)
“You can bet the house that Damon is going to try and steal second here.” (Damon didn’t try)
“Well if he can get a ground ball to one of the infielders, the O’s can get out of this inning.”
“ [John] Parrish really has the stuff to take B.J. Ryan’s place as the setup man.” (on the next pitch, Parrish gave up a 3-run home run to David Ortiz)
“That ball fell short in front of him, and that’s why he couldn’t get to it.”
This is the best part: I didn’t make up any of those quotes. (For those of you wondering, my buddy Max and I paid close attention after we heard the first Palmerism and wrote down everything he said word for word for the rest of the game. We felt like Augustus and Violet after Willie Wonka had opened the doors to his chocolate factory. From that point on, I got hooked. I just couldn’t get my unintentional comedy fix anywhere else. It got to the point where in the coming years, I had to take a portable TV to the games, just so I wouldn’t miss any Palmerisms.
Ah, Jim, it’s good to have you back in my life again.
3.He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named – Yes Bar… I mean, a certain individual whose name starts with a “B” ends with a “Bonds” and in the middle is “arry”, will be dominating the headlines again this season. And you know what, I don’t care. And deep down inside, I don’t think you do either. Yeah, you pretend to hate him cause he took steroids and he doesn’t like people. But secretly you took him in the 9th round of your fantasy league and your waiting to see if he breaks out this season just so you can tell everyone, “I told you so.”
Every good show has a good villain, and the summer of 2006 won’t be any different. He reminds me of Denzel Washington’s character in Training Day. He’s supremely confident, gets what he wants, and does what he wants because he’s so damn good at his job. At the same time, he’s taking a little off the side for himself, and when he tries to pass his game on to the new generation they reject him and rebel. What happens at the end? He gets wounded physically but proclaims in a large crowd that he’ll be back. What really happens is he ends up getting shot down by a bunch of gangsters when no one was around.
Step back for a minute and try to think why you really hate Bonds. It doesn’t have anything to do with race, most of the extremists got that out of their system when Aaron was chasing Ruth back in ’74. It’s not because he’s overly rude or secluded, most athletes don’t give us the face time in a career as Bonds gives us per season. It’s not because he plays for the Yankees because… he plays in San Francisco, the polar opposite of New York. Is it because he lied? I don’t think that’s it either, because he never did. He simply took advantage of a broken system. What’s left, oh here’s my favorite: people hate him because he’s chasing the most famous record in sports. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the record being broken but more along the lines of the type of person that is breaking it. Which just leads us back the previous questions.
2. Speaking of Barry Bonds and Steroids… – So far this season no big name has been busted for anything other than the claim that some people don’t put forth their best effort every day, and by some people I mean the Yankees third baseman. But it’s only a matter till the levee breaks on this one. The Jason Grimsely/ HGH thing was a small leak in the wall, but when the names on his list come out (and trust me, they will come out) the flood gates could just open up. I’ve heard rumors of very high profile people in high places that may be on said list, and as a result could get moved around this July. Imagine if your team deals away a promising AAA player or two for a superstar only to find out he’s going to be out the rest of the season serving a drug suspension. Something is going to hit the fan very shortly.
1. Oh, and that World Series thing – Phil Mickelson 2004 Masters, Red Sox 2004 World Series, Roy Williams 2005 NCAA college basketball championship, White Sox 2005 World Series, Mack Brown 2006 NCAA college football championship. Notice a trend? All losers turned big time winners in the past two years. You know what that means? Cubs 2006.
Uh oh, Derrek Lee broke his wrist?
Better make it 2008.
Chris DiIonno would come out of the bullpen to Highway Star by Deep Purple.He can be reached at .
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